Monday, August 21, 2017

Summer’s almost gone, winter’s coming on


I had a sad look at the pink mandevilla this weekend. I love flower gardens but can neither make nor maintain one. Mandevilla to the rescue, and thank you to Laura, who lifted the pots onto the hooks and continues to lift the watering can.

Early June
The pink mandevilla is fading back. Its leaves are yellow, its blossoms drooping. Sunday Beth admired it as she left and reminisced about a fellow staff member at the plant who brought in his pink and yellow mandevilla every fall, to hang in a window and winter over. It’s a safe bet there are no cats in the plant.

Late August
For two summers I’ve hung the white mandevilla by the house. I remember last year’s plant was stunning, and so is this year’s plant. I believe it was up until we hung the pine greens wreath in November, and watched a nuthatch liberate pine seeds from the pine cones.

The yellow mandevilla is this year’s sleeper. It absconded so quickly with the railing that pig’s nasturtium completely slipped my mind. Next year, pig. Seasons go round; next year will be the same.



Except, next year there will be no eclipse. Our view begins in ten minutes. The sun is bright, the sky the least bit overcast. It’s hot (still summer!), and no one is out. Our partial solar eclipse will be at its maximum at 2:30 and over at four. 

I turned on the TV and found ABC, and probably most of America, is following the eclipse. It just past totality on the west coast.  I do hope the schools are viewing; the event is spectacular. Now I wonder how dark we will become in an hour. 

PostScript: The band practices outdoors, and was allowed out, with the admonishment not to look up. Some had glasses and shared them around. Mostly, according to Laura, they joked about President Trump looking up.

19 comments:

  1. I have jusy watched the eclipse on our television. Ir really is an awe inspiring sight isn't it - what early man must have thought of these occasions.

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  2. It is a wonderful thing even if some think they don't want to say so and the last eclipse here some years ago was a bit cloudy but even then it was amazing.

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  3. Your plant is beautiful.My grandaughter is out in New York for 6 weeks. I spoke to her today. |It will be about one o clock when they will be able to see the eclipse. It will be so amazing. The swallows were out in force here today. Masses of them lined up baby ones and all on the telephone wires, ready to say to 'Goodbye' - summer's fading fast.

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    1. Swallows are as amazing as an eclipse. All summer do their job, then one day they line the wires and the next day are gone.

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  4. It's fading now here...it is getting brighter by the minute. We had about 76% eclipse...so it just got kind of dull, not dark.

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  5. Such a rare experience. Hope the kids didn't miss it.

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  6. Hari OM
    Have experienced several eclipses, both solar and lunar and full and partial... just got back from an evening along the coast in an attempt to see the 20% partial which was on offer over here. Cloud came down like a furry rug. Tsk... Still we had a nice coastal run. Love your Mandys. YAM xx

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  7. It rained, so no eclipse. We're not even close to winter, that is if we have one, we didn't last year.

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  8. Watching the eclipse was wonderful. We had our glasses and just before the big moment, a dark cloud passed by. However, a minute later, the cloud was gone and we could experience the 80% eclipse.

    Your mandevilla is beautiful. I used to winter them in my basement, and they did OK. However, remembering to water occasionally became bothersome. I can get them at a discount nursery so i now just let Mothet Nature decide when the plant is done and buy another the next year.

    It is still warm and summer here so I am not going to say good-bye to summer yet. I know that we have at least another month left.

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  9. Great color, that pink mandevilla.

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  10. your mandevilla looks fine to me. fyi, my spellcheck tells me I am spelling it wrong. so hot here it makes you gasp to step outside. we had about 66% coverage. still had hard shadows but the quality of the light was not so harsh.

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  11. Love your mandevilla - and will have to remember them here.
    I am glad that Laura got to see the eclipse.

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  12. Your flowers are gorgeous. The eclipse was quite the event. I enjoyed it.

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  13. Laura has done a good job under your guidance, Joanne. And learned a lot for her future enjoyment.

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  14. We had the eclipse this morning around 9:15 to about 10:30, but we also had clouds. It got darker than usual for a bit, but I couldn't tell if it was just darker clouds or the eclipse and I was working plus I wasn't going to be looking up at the sun anyway to avoid eye damage. Such pretty flowers!

    betty

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  15. There are so many reasons a plant's leaves will turn yellow, I swear I could visit every nursery I know and get a different answer each time I ask why is my plant yellowing?

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  16. It's getting like autumn here; fields being ploughed, birds gathering to migrate, geese returning here, blackberries galore and a little chill in the air - and still in August !

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  17. My mandevilla's have been most unimpressive this summer. Too hot. And they may be getting old as where I live they come back each year. The solar eclipse was most fun. I loved the crescent suns flittering through the light in the trees and onto my porch. Fun event.

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  18. Winter? What is thing thing you call winter? I'd like to have some days that are chilly enough to wear a jacket or a sweater.

    Love,
    Janie

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